Gophers sweep No. 9 Notre Dame on goal in waning seconds

SOUTH BEND, IND. – Blake McLaughlin scored with eight seconds left to give the Gophers a 2-1 victory over No. 9 Notre Dame on Saturday night.

It was McLaughlin's second goal of the season. The freshman forward from Grand Rapids scored his first goal Friday, when Minnesota won 5-1. So this was quite a weekend for him and his team — the Gophers' first series sweep of the season.

"For a team trying to grow up, this was just crazy," coach Bob Motzko said. "We kind of got a gift there."

With this win, the Gophers (9-8-4, 6-3-3 Big Ten) took sole possession of second place in the Big Ten, just two points behind Ohio State.

Notre Dame, the defending conference regular-season and tournament champion, remains in sixth place in the seven-team league.

"We were not pretty at times tonight," Motzko said, "but we have a work ethic, we have a goalie and we do special teams pretty well. And how critical was it tonight to win the special teams battle on the road."

The Irish outshot the Gophers 13-6 in the opening period and took a 1-0 lead on Jack Jenkins' goal at 7:29.

Sheehy also had an assist on McLaughlin's goal.

The Gophers were 1-for-5 on the power play, Notre Dame 0-for-2.

Mat Robson had 34 saves, 15 in the third, for the Gophers; Dylan St. Cyr had 24 stops for the Irish (12-8-1, 5-6).